Ovenbird Hits a Window April 1, 2008
While visiting a friend’s cottage last summer, I was on the deck very early one morning with my camera looking for something to photograph when i heard a thump behind me. I looked around and I saw this young Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) that had flown into a nearby window. It looked like it wasn’t going to make it…
But after a few minutes, it started to recover…
And after a few more minutes, it was able to perch on my finger so I brought it over to a railing…
The early morning sun started to warm up the ovenbird, and it started to look better…
Later I carried it over to an evergreen tree and it wanted to sleep…
After a short while, the ovenbird seemed to be fully recovered…
I found out later that the best thing to do if a bird hits a window and appears to be still alive is to gently pick it up and place it in a clean shoebox with a few airholes punched in the lid with a piece of paper towel on the bottom so it doesn’t get soiled. Give the bird ten or twenty minutes of quiet time in the box in a cool safe place.
Photographing Insects March 31, 2008
Last summer, in August 2007, I visited the Botanical Gardens in Montreal, where I managed to photograph some nice monarch butterflies outside in the gardens, with my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens with Image Stabilization, and with a 1.4 extender attached. This gave me the ability to zoom in on an insect without having to get too close and disturb the insect…
Inside the botanical gardens, there was a greenhouse that was set up with lots of free-flying butterflies, but hundreds of people would pass through every day, so these butterflies tended to be a bit worn out as you can see in the photo below. It was also harder to photograph them because of all the people around, and I couldn’t get back very far enough to get a small depth-of-field that would make the background out of focus (nice bokeh) and less distracting…
Either people were touching them a lot, or they were kept hyperactive by being fed a constant supply of sugared fruits in plates…
Here is another messed-up butterfly inside the greenhouse. Looks like it has been through a paper shredder…
The best butterflies were outside. And because I could stay farther away with my zoom telephoto lens, I could make sure I could choose to have a nice blurred background that was farther behind the butterfly. The background then became out of focus (nice bokeh) that would be less distracting…
‘Boheh’ is a Japanese word used by photographers that means ‘fuzzyness’. You can read about the definition of the word here… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
Another nice example of a perfect butterfly outdoors where the ‘bokeh’ is good…
I visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens late in the season when the butterfly exhibit inside was almost over. Perhaps this was another reason why the butterflies inside were in such bad shape. This summer, I will try to go earlier in the season, shortly after the butterfly exhibit begins.
